Williams stars in fine Rockets victory

JERMAINE Williams top scored with 33 points as Rockets secured their first win of the season in the NBL Conference after trailing by 15 points in the final quarter.

It was a real thriller although the game was marred by an incident which resulted in the ejection of Reading's John Hodds and home player Paul Mundy-Castle.

Williams was also excluded following his fifth foul before Rockets clinched victory in overtime.

It was a particularly good performance by Reading, who had lost their previous game to Manchester.

Sutton had won their previous two games and possess some very tall players with a seven footer in James Cook and three others over 6ft 7in.

Pumas were first to attack but Williams made a great block.

Then Adam Kelly made the first of his five charges throughout and he sent on to make a significant contribution during the game.

Sutton took an early lead but, with Rockets playing much better than they had against Manchester, it was 11 points each midway through the quarter.

Great assist

Rockets captain Ted Smith decided to show his distance shooting and made the first of his three threes in the game. But the best play for Rockets in this period followed a superb steal by Lloyd Gardner.

He threw in-field to Damon Cooper, who returned the ball to Gardner and he produced a great assist for Paul Hearne, who finished with a great lay-up.

This left the Reading men 19-15 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started with an 8-0 run by Pumas, taking them four points ahead before coach Matt Johnson called a time-out.

Pumas continued with their four point advantage until Pem Bristol entered the court. He got a great steal to set Cooper up with a lay-up and close Rockets' deficit to one point at 32-31.

Smith was fouled while shooting and landed one out of two from the line, while Hodds had his third foul called against him.

With a three-point shot from Brian Moore, Pumas moved six points ahead. Rockets kept chipping away and. with Sutton in foul trouble, they finished the first half one point behind at 40-41.

Williams contributed 14 points and Smith 13 in the first two quarters.

Williams began the third with a great steal before moving quickly down court and scoring to increase Rockets' lead.

Both teams then traded baskets and half-way through the third quarter Pumas held a slender 48-47 advantage.

When Hodds rejoined the action things did not go his way and he missed a couple of lay ups, while Smith collected his fourth foul.

Pumas took advantage and ended up with a three-point advantage with two minutes of the quarter left.

Mundy-Castle finished that quarter with four consecutive points, giving Pumas a seven-point lead which they increased in the last seconds to nine with Pete Knechtel scoring yet again.

Between them Knechtel and Mundy-Castle contributed scored 26 of the 27 points Pumas scored in this quarter and they were now looking confident with a nine-point lead.

The fourth quarter saw the same two Sutton players start as they had left off with a basket each and Rockets now found themselves 15 points down 79-64.

Lloyd Gardner now became more influential in the game and hit his first three which helped Rockets to an 11-0 run, reducing the deficit to four points with just under five minutes of the game left.

However, Knechtel pulled out two more big three's and despite Rockets exchanging a basket or two Pumas were seven up with three minutes 43 seconds left.

Rockets' intensity on defence was now paramount to them winning this game and the leader in that area was again Kelly.

But he was on the receiving end of another charging foul by Mundy-Castle and, as Kelly fell to the floor, the Sutton player appeared to make contact again.

Stamping

Mundy-Castle, who was committing his fifth foul, was sent from the arena by the referee, who saw it as a stamping offence.

Hodds also became involved as he went to protect his team-mate and he, too, was excluded.

With two minutes left Rockets were 84-80 behind.

But they were now playing with tremendous determination and Gardner shot two and Herne finished nicely to bring the scores level with 69 seconds left on the clock.

Sutton's James Cook collected the ball inside and was fouled on a successful shot which he converted to give Pumas a three-point lead with 53 seconds to go.

Williams, having an outstanding game, continued to thrust up court but was fouled in the process and for the first time in the evening missed one of his two foul shots.

And, with Mark Quashie scoring two out of two at the other end, Pumas still held a four-point lead with 28 seconds left.

Smith's drive to the line was fouled but only made one out of two free throws.

When Pumas moved down court, Rockets stole the ball, passed to Williams, who gained two points.

He was also fouled, and converted on his free throw, leaving the score 89-89 with less than 10 seconds remaining. Rockets scored another jump shot to lead 91-89.

There was more drama as Williams committed his fifth foul and was sent from the court.

As Cook went to the line he missed the first shot but the rebound was snapped up and the scores were back level. This put the game into five minutes of overtime.

Reading were now missing Williams and Hodds, who had scored 46 points between them but they were quickly ahead again with a three pointer from Smith.

This was followed by two points from Gardner and Hearne converted a free throw. With another two from Gardner the visitors now found themselves with a 10 point lead.

Pumas came up with three point shots and on their next offence Smith committed a foul which was his fifth and he was fouled out with 24 major points with just 82 seconds remaining.

Pumas hit a superb three, got a steal and made the shots. But, at the other end, Gardner shot one out of two from the line to leave Rockets the winners by four points.